Turners5_dotOne

7.28.2008

Just a quick note to let you know that the Turners 5 website has been "relaunched". It had taken a bit of a hiatus while Jules was working with her blog. But, with the new iLife just waiting to be played with, I just couldn't resist. So, please head on over and take a look.

7.26.2008

For anyone who knows me, you should be quite aware at this point that I'm not talking about the NY Yankees. So, now that we've covered that, on to what I'm talking about. As most of you know, Chicago is the furthest South we had lived prior to here...so, one thing that continuously surprises us is the wildlife that inhabits our backyard. So, todays post will show some of the things we've dealt with in the last few weeks.

Our insect journey begins with what we had the joy of pulling out of the youngest one's ear about two weeks ago. Whilst getting Brian up from his nap, Jules noticed his ear was dirty. As it turns out, it wasn't exactly dirt. Upon closer inspection (insert gasp here) she saw legs moving. So, as it turns out, we got our first experience detaching one of these little beauties from a child. By detaching, I do mean detaching. Pulling it out of his ear and taking skin off as it was quite attached (all the while trying not to detach and leave the "mouth parts" embedded in the skin). So, at the instruction of our pediatrician, we have been watching for the tell-tale signs of Rocky Mountain Spotted fever since then. Good times.

Our journey continues with the two of the Southern version of these that we have tangled with in our backyard (one near the garden, one on the fence by the playground).

Lastly, would be this guy that Jules needed to relocate in order to use the hose to water her garden. Needless to say, she was less than enthused (I'm currently attempting to talk her out of putting the house on the market).

Okay, now that I have given y'all the heebies (and potentially a jeebie or two), on to other things. We will be taking one more week of vacation next week to hang out before school starts back up again and things get nice and busy for the next nine months.

7.06.2008

After hearing about how much of a slacker I am to people I haven't talked to in over a decade (this one's for you Maria), I have finally sat down for some mental regurgitation.

We are into summer now (which would explain the constant 90+ degree weather and the incredibly dead grass). We are winding down the Fourth of July weekend, and I figured it was a good time to post. It's been a busy month to say the least. We have added a backyard playground (for the kids - not for me), and had a vacation. For said vacation, we went to Julie's family reunion (it was actually a cousin's reunion - but when it is hosted in the Southern mountains, you need to be careful with those types of clarifications).... Okay, Southern jokes/cliche's aside, it was a lot of fun (even for the in-law family members). The fam rented a couple of cabins in the Pidgeon Forge/Gatlinburg area and spent the weekend reminicsing. There was quite a bit to do in the area (take a Myrtle Beach type of area, add Bluegrass and you've pretty much got it) and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time. I saw some folks I haven't seen for a lot of years - and some I've never met so it was a pretty cool time getting to know more of Julie's family.

Other than that, work is getting pretty busy...earning my keep as a busy little coding monkey. Trying to get back into the swing of normal everyday life (a week and a half of vacation is a long time - plus, motivation and I have never seen eye to eye).We have another little family break later on in the summer, so we're are looking forward to that.

6.01.2008

Howdy to all of the readers out there (pretty much you JT). I am currently writing this up from the back porch watching the kids splash around in the dog pool in the backyard (hooray for southern weather, and wireless technology). Things in the Turners5 household are rapidly approaching summer break. Jack finished up school last week, and little E follows suit this week. Soccer/ballet/etc has finished up for all within the last couple of weeks as well...so the hectic is beginning to recede a bit. I however was just informed that no corporations really give folks three paid months off in the summer - so work will continue (I haven't ever had this before, but a guy can dream).

There are a couple of summer time trips scheduled for the summer, but nothing major - so it should be pretty laid back. We have fenced in the yard, and are expecting the backyard playset to get delivered/installed (Bob Villa I'm not) any day now - so there is always the option of booting the yard apes (kids) and yard horse (dog) into the backyard to burn off some summertime energy.

Other than summer time a' comin', life progresses as always. The eldest child hits 7 in a few weeks (single tear), proof positive that I am getting flippin' old.

God continues to bless us in all sorts of ways (some I'm sure we don't even see), and we thank Him for that. Speaking of The One in charge, whilst y'all are having your own conversations with Him, please lift up the Chapman family (Steven Curtis Chapman, et. al.) in your prayers. SCC is a singer who has been a big part of our marriage/lives for a lot of years now (not necessarily personally, though we have met him a few times - but certainly directly through his music and testimony). He and his family have recently suffered a horrible tragedy that is difficult to fathom, much less discuss. For more info (and to marvel at how they are able to glorify Him during such heartbreak), please follow this link.

Other than that - I'll catch y'all up with how the "break" is coming along (although again, JT - since you're the only reading this, and we live together - it probably won't be much of a surprise).

4.14.2008

I'm going to stop counting how long it is between posts...let's face it, it's embarassing. We just completed our spring break vacation. This year we went for a "split vacation" of sorts. It was referred to as the "Me, we she time" vacation. It started out as "me time", moved on to "we time", and capped off with "she time"....allow me to explain.

On Saturday, Julie and the kids went out to the Outlaws for the week. I had the house to myself for a couple of days (doesn't happen often). I managed to get in a (very little) golf, play a soccer game, go to an open house (of my Cousin's - we are so not moving), and (most amazingly of all) fix the kitchen sink (seriously). Thus concluded the "me time".

Jules and I then met in Asheville (the Outlaws watched the kids) for the "we time". We (see how I did that) spent two and half great days in the Mountains, and had a great time just being together. I think we should do this every week (see how that works out). One of the highlights was visiting Chimney Rock which was very cool (and interesting for the guy that ain't a huge fan of heights). Check it out here if interested: Chimney Rock Park.

For the end of the week I was out with the kids at the Outlaws which was fun as well (more work of course).

1.26.2008

General NewsHello to all! Is has been a bit longer than a week this time since I last posted. In fact, I believe the word "stale" was used recently. So, in a nut shell, here is the last month (or so)....

In reading the last post, I noticed that I had just started puppy training with the dog. Well, today she "graduated" (believe it or not, with a graduation cap and everything). She can now do basic obedience type of stuff (sit/down/stay/etc) with relative frequency. This is actually a good thing, as she is probably pushing about 90+ pounds, and her head (while standing) is above my waist (not that I'm that tall - but we're talking about a dog here). So, the ability for us to enforce a little control is probably not a bad thing.

The holidays were good. We had a lot of family come to the house over the course of the holidays, which was very nice (both because it was nice to see everyone, and because we didn't have to pack up and go anywhere). As it was the first Christmas in the house, Julie did a very nice job of decorating (both within and without). As some of you may know, one of the prerequisites for us when we were looking for a new house was that there was a nice family-centric area for the tree - and it did work out great. The only casualty I can think of from the tree was the ornament that has managed to survive Julie's entire life-span, lasted about seven minutes once the dog so the tree.

So, it is now January and all is back to normal. School/work/everyday life has begun again. Last week, the wife and I joined a local (quite inexpensive) gym. For all who know me (those would be the ones giggling uncontrollably right now), you know that carving out time to go work-out has never been one of my strong suits - but it is now costing me money, so my plan is to try and make it work. Wish us luck.

Tech stuffAs many of you know, I am a hopeless geek. For some reason 10+ years of doing software development 10 hours a day hasn't stopped me from really enjoying technology. So, my new thing lately is trying different linux distros. This little hobby emerged after we bought a mac, and I started to enjoy using OS X. However, once Julie kind of took over the mac, I realized that I wanted to play too. I have a really old desktop that I was still using with XP (and darned if it wasn't getting awfully slow). So, after realizing that I was too cheap to buy a new mac (those things aren't cheap) I realized that linux was pretty cool. I've thus far messed with the (k)(x)ubuntu family, and was running PCLinuxOS (my current favorite thus far I think). I usually seem to gravitate towards the gnome desktop, but am trying out the new KDE for awhile - see if it grows on me. If anyone actually reads this thing (and happens to mess with Linux) any advice as to what you use, and why you like/dislike it is quite welcome.

Also, I believe I will soon be in the market for a new iPod (my 4g has blowuptuated for the third time in 8 months - sad mac face and all). I think I am between the classic (80gb) and the 8gb nano. I think I'm on the side of more space (and less $$) instead of the opposite (the ipod touch). Or...do I forgo the iPod replacement, and get the AppleTV? Again - any thoughts on this would be cool as well.

Ah well...this is what a months worth of my not writing gets you...more to come as events warrant.